In 2021, 15-year-old Mckenna Grace broke new ground as the first child ever nominated for a guest acting Emmy. The notice came for her performance as Esther Keyes on Hulu’s “The Handmaid’s Tale,” which could bring her another Best Drama Guest Actress bid this year. She also currently has a shot at a nomination for Best Movie/Limited Supporting Actress for Peacock’s “A Friend of the Family,” which would make her the all-time youngest performer with mentions in multiple Emmy categories.
Grace, whose 17th birthday will precede the 2023 Emmy nominations announcement by 17 days, appears on “A Friend of the Family” as Jan Broberg, a future actress who was kidnapped at ages 12 and 14 by her neighbor, Robert Berchtold. The true crime series also stars Jake Lacy as Berchtold and Colin Hanks and Anna Paquin as Broberg’s parents. (Watch our exclusive video interview with Grace.)
SEEWill ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ extend...
Grace, whose 17th birthday will precede the 2023 Emmy nominations announcement by 17 days, appears on “A Friend of the Family” as Jan Broberg, a future actress who was kidnapped at ages 12 and 14 by her neighbor, Robert Berchtold. The true crime series also stars Jake Lacy as Berchtold and Colin Hanks and Anna Paquin as Broberg’s parents. (Watch our exclusive video interview with Grace.)
SEEWill ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ extend...
- 5/3/2023
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
With a prominent recurring part on “Game of Thrones” and now a starring role on “The Last of Us,” HBO darling Bella Ramsey, age 19, has already built a career that would be the envy of any actor. Having previously clinched a BAFTA Award for Netflix’s “The Worst Witch”, she is now quite a serious contender heading into the 2023 Best Drama Actress Emmy race. If the teen triumphs for “The Last of Us” at the 75th annual ceremony, which is scheduled to precede her 20th birthday by 12 days, she will set new precedents as both the youngest champion in her category’s history and the youngest person to ever win a lead acting Emmy for a continuing series.
“The Last of Us,” which was renewed for a second season almost immediately after the premiere of its first, is based on the 2013 PlayStation game of the same name and stars Ramsey...
“The Last of Us,” which was renewed for a second season almost immediately after the premiere of its first, is based on the 2013 PlayStation game of the same name and stars Ramsey...
- 2/20/2023
- by Matthew Stewart
- Gold Derby
The “made for television movie” began in the 1960s. In fact, one of the most famous TV movies Don Siegel’s 1964 version of “The Killers” featuring Ronald Reagan in his last film role as a ruthless villain, ended up being released theatrically because it was considered too violent for television.
But the genre came of age in the 1970s.
Some of these movies that aired on the three broadcast networks were sheer shlock and others were pilots for prospective TV series. But it was also an embarrassment of riches. Who could forget the beloved 1971 ABC biopic “Brian’s Song,” starring James Caan and Billy Dee Williams, which was nominated for 11 Emmys and won five including outstanding single program (drama or comedy). The four-hankie weepie was so popular it was released theatrically.
Also briefly released theatrically was Steven Spielberg’s pulsating 1971 classic “Duel” starring Dennis Weaver which aired on ABC. Considered one...
But the genre came of age in the 1970s.
Some of these movies that aired on the three broadcast networks were sheer shlock and others were pilots for prospective TV series. But it was also an embarrassment of riches. Who could forget the beloved 1971 ABC biopic “Brian’s Song,” starring James Caan and Billy Dee Williams, which was nominated for 11 Emmys and won five including outstanding single program (drama or comedy). The four-hankie weepie was so popular it was released theatrically.
Also briefly released theatrically was Steven Spielberg’s pulsating 1971 classic “Duel” starring Dennis Weaver which aired on ABC. Considered one...
- 8/15/2022
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
Hal Holbrook, who died last month at 95, had so many memorable character roles, not the least of which was playing Deep Throat in the 1976 classic All The President’s Men.
At the time, the identity of Deep Throat was one of Washington’s best kept secrets — it wouldn’t be for another 30 years or so that Mark Felt would come forward and reveal himself.
In a 2015 interview with PopPolitics on SiriusXM, Holbrook said that the anonymity of Deep Throat at first made him think that there wasn’t too much to the role, and he turned it down.
Robert Redford, who had acquired the rights to the Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein book, then came to Holbrook’s house to try to convince him otherwise.
Holbrook recalled, “I said, ‘Bob, there’s nothing here. It’s in the dark. There’s hardly anything to the role. …Nobody will see me.”
Redford,...
At the time, the identity of Deep Throat was one of Washington’s best kept secrets — it wouldn’t be for another 30 years or so that Mark Felt would come forward and reveal himself.
In a 2015 interview with PopPolitics on SiriusXM, Holbrook said that the anonymity of Deep Throat at first made him think that there wasn’t too much to the role, and he turned it down.
Robert Redford, who had acquired the rights to the Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein book, then came to Holbrook’s house to try to convince him otherwise.
Holbrook recalled, “I said, ‘Bob, there’s nothing here. It’s in the dark. There’s hardly anything to the role. …Nobody will see me.”
Redford,...
- 2/2/2021
- by Ted Johnson
- Deadline Film + TV
Hal Holbrook, the five-time Emmy-winning actor who was famed for portraying Mark Twain, has died at 95. Holbrook died on January 23 at his home in Beverly Hills, his assistant told The New York Times.
Born on February 17, 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio, he went on to have a highly decorated screen and stage career that spanned more than six decades.
Holbrook perhaps was best known for playing Mark Twain in his one-man stage show Mark Twain Tonight!, which first played on Broadway in 1966 and earned Holbrook a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play. A television showing of the stage show secured him an Emmy nomination a year later, he reprised the role on the Main Stem in 1977 and again in 2005.
Holbrook played former U.S. president Abraham Lincoln on television in Carl Sandburg’s 1974 mini-series Lincoln, which earned him one of five Emmy statuettes. His four other...
Born on February 17, 1925, in Cleveland, Ohio, he went on to have a highly decorated screen and stage career that spanned more than six decades.
Holbrook perhaps was best known for playing Mark Twain in his one-man stage show Mark Twain Tonight!, which first played on Broadway in 1966 and earned Holbrook a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Play. A television showing of the stage show secured him an Emmy nomination a year later, he reprised the role on the Main Stem in 1977 and again in 2005.
Holbrook played former U.S. president Abraham Lincoln on television in Carl Sandburg’s 1974 mini-series Lincoln, which earned him one of five Emmy statuettes. His four other...
- 2/2/2021
- by Jake Kanter
- Deadline Film + TV
Emmy and Tony winner Hal Holbrook, an actor best known for his role as Mark Twain, whom he portrayed for decades in one-man shows, died on Jan. 23. He was 95.
Holbrook’s personal assistant, Joyce Cohen, confirmed his death to the New York Times on Monday night.
Holbrook played the American novelist in a solo show called “Mark Twain Tonight!” that he directed himself and for which he won the best actor Tony in 1966. He returned to Broadway with the show in 1977 and 2005 and appeared in it more than 2,200 times (as of 2010) in legit venues across the country. He began performing the show in 1954.
He received an Emmy nomination for a TV adaptation of “Mark Twain Tonight!” in 1967, the first of multiple noms. He won four Emmy Awards.
He also drew an Oscar nomination for supporting actor for his role in the film “Into the Wild” in 2008. At the time of the nomination,...
Holbrook’s personal assistant, Joyce Cohen, confirmed his death to the New York Times on Monday night.
Holbrook played the American novelist in a solo show called “Mark Twain Tonight!” that he directed himself and for which he won the best actor Tony in 1966. He returned to Broadway with the show in 1977 and 2005 and appeared in it more than 2,200 times (as of 2010) in legit venues across the country. He began performing the show in 1954.
He received an Emmy nomination for a TV adaptation of “Mark Twain Tonight!” in 1967, the first of multiple noms. He won four Emmy Awards.
He also drew an Oscar nomination for supporting actor for his role in the film “Into the Wild” in 2008. At the time of the nomination,...
- 2/2/2021
- by Carmel Dagan
- Variety Film + TV
William Link, a writer and producer known for co-creating “Columbo” and “Murder, She Wrote,” died of congestive heart failure in Los Angeles on Sunday, his niece confirmed to Variety. He was 87.
Over the course of Link’s decades-long television career, he became known for working alongside screenwriter and producer Richard Levinson. The duo collaborated on a number of projects, including both “Columbo” and “Murder, She Wrote.”
Steven Spielberg, who directed the first episode of “Columbo,” paid tribute to Link on Tuesday.
“Bill’s truly good nature always inspired me to do good work for a man who, along with Dick Levinson, was a huge part of what became my own personal film school on the Universal lot,” Spielberg said in a statement. “Bill was one of my favorite and most patient teachers and, more than anything, I learned so much from him about the true anatomy of a plot. I...
Over the course of Link’s decades-long television career, he became known for working alongside screenwriter and producer Richard Levinson. The duo collaborated on a number of projects, including both “Columbo” and “Murder, She Wrote.”
Steven Spielberg, who directed the first episode of “Columbo,” paid tribute to Link on Tuesday.
“Bill’s truly good nature always inspired me to do good work for a man who, along with Dick Levinson, was a huge part of what became my own personal film school on the Universal lot,” Spielberg said in a statement. “Bill was one of my favorite and most patient teachers and, more than anything, I learned so much from him about the true anatomy of a plot. I...
- 12/29/2020
- by Eli Countryman
- Variety Film + TV
Prolific television writer-producer William Link, co-creator of classic TV series including Columbo and Murder She Wrote among others, died Sunday, December 27 of congestive heart failure in Los Angeles, his wife, Margery Nelson, told Deadline. He was 87.
Link was born in Elkins Park, Pa, a suburb of Philadelphia, on December 15, 1933.
In a career spanning more than 60 years, Link was best known for his collaboration with the late Richard Levinson. The two – who first met at the age of 14 and began collaborating almost immediately on stories, radio scripts, and dramas – saw television’s potential to capture the current scene and contribute to the national discussion about such subjects as race relations, student unrest, and gun violence.
Co-created by Link and Levinson, Columbo, starring Peter Falk as LAPD homicide detective Columbo aired on NBC from 1971 to 1978. The character and show popularized the inverted detective story format, which begins by showing the commission of the crime and its perpetrator.
Link was born in Elkins Park, Pa, a suburb of Philadelphia, on December 15, 1933.
In a career spanning more than 60 years, Link was best known for his collaboration with the late Richard Levinson. The two – who first met at the age of 14 and began collaborating almost immediately on stories, radio scripts, and dramas – saw television’s potential to capture the current scene and contribute to the national discussion about such subjects as race relations, student unrest, and gun violence.
Co-created by Link and Levinson, Columbo, starring Peter Falk as LAPD homicide detective Columbo aired on NBC from 1971 to 1978. The character and show popularized the inverted detective story format, which begins by showing the commission of the crime and its perpetrator.
- 12/29/2020
- by Denise Petski
- Deadline Film + TV
Throughout Emmy season, IndieWire will evaluate the top contenders for TV’s most prestigious prize, and it all starts here. At the bottom of this page are IndieWire TV Critic Ben Travers’ predictions for Best Actor in a Limited Series or TV Movie. This article will be updated throughout the coming months, along with all our predictions, to reflect an up-to-the-minute state of the race. Make sure to keep checking IndieWire for the latest coverage on the 2020 Emmys, including breaking news, analysis, interviews, podcasts, FYC event coverage, reviews of all the awards contenders, and more. The Creative Arts Emmy Awards will be given out the week of September 14. The 72nd Annual Primetime Emmy Awards will take place virtually on Sunday, September 20. (See our awards calendar for a more detailed breakdown of important dates.) ABC is broadcasting the ceremony.
Last Year’s Winner: Jharrel Jerome, “When They See Us”
Still Eligible: No.
Last Year’s Winner: Jharrel Jerome, “When They See Us”
Still Eligible: No.
- 8/28/2020
- by Ben Travers
- Indiewire
With the Emmy Awards nominations set for Tuesday, it is a good time to back at a few of the greatest Emmy-winning and Emmy-nominated performances from some of the biggest stars in Hollywood.
Ingrid Bergman, “The Turn of the Screw” (1959)
The Oscar-winning Swedish actress certainly ended the 1950s on a different note than she began the decade. After making her U.S. film debut opposite Leslie Howard in 1939’s “Intermezzo,” Bergman became one of the top Hollywood stars earning her first Oscar for 1944’s “Gaslight.” Married with a young daughter, she shocked the U.S. when she had an affair and became pregnant by famed Italian director Roberto Rossellini during the production of “Stromboli.” She was even denounced in Congress for her affair. The couple did marry, have three children including actress Isabella Rossellini and made several films together before they divorced in 1957. All was forgiven by 1956 when she won...
Ingrid Bergman, “The Turn of the Screw” (1959)
The Oscar-winning Swedish actress certainly ended the 1950s on a different note than she began the decade. After making her U.S. film debut opposite Leslie Howard in 1939’s “Intermezzo,” Bergman became one of the top Hollywood stars earning her first Oscar for 1944’s “Gaslight.” Married with a young daughter, she shocked the U.S. when she had an affair and became pregnant by famed Italian director Roberto Rossellini during the production of “Stromboli.” She was even denounced in Congress for her affair. The couple did marry, have three children including actress Isabella Rossellini and made several films together before they divorced in 1957. All was forgiven by 1956 when she won...
- 7/24/2020
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
LGBT TV movies, series and specials are part of our cultural landscape. They are frequently awarded with Emmys, Golden Globes, Critics Choice and SAG Awards. But this acceptance was a long time coming. Here’s a look back at the landmark telefilms that paved the way.
Do you know the first TV movie that featured a gay character? No, it wasn’t 1972’s “That Certain Summer.”
It was a drama called “South” that was produced by England’s ITV and aired on that network on Nov. 24, 1959. Set in the Antebellum South, the drama revolved around a handsome Polish army lieutenant living in the South who is torn between his love for a plantation owner’s niece or a hunky blond officer. “South” was incredibly daring for its time, especially since it would be eight years before homosexuality was legalized in England and Wales with the passing of the Sexual Offences...
Do you know the first TV movie that featured a gay character? No, it wasn’t 1972’s “That Certain Summer.”
It was a drama called “South” that was produced by England’s ITV and aired on that network on Nov. 24, 1959. Set in the Antebellum South, the drama revolved around a handsome Polish army lieutenant living in the South who is torn between his love for a plantation owner’s niece or a hunky blond officer. “South” was incredibly daring for its time, especially since it would be eight years before homosexuality was legalized in England and Wales with the passing of the Sexual Offences...
- 7/16/2020
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
The 1970s was the Golden Age of the “Movie of the Week” with the three networks –ABC, CBS and NBC — not only offering theatrical flicks several days a week, but also made-for-tv movies. These ran the gamut from the silly — 1973’s “The Horror at 37,000 Feet” — to such acclaimed award-winning fare as 1970’s “Tribes,” 1971’s “Brian’s Song” and “Duel,” 1972’s “That Certain Summer” and “The Glass House,” 1974’s “The Autobiography of Miss Jane Pittman” and 1975’s “Queen of the Stardust Ballroom” and “Love Among the Ruins.”
I have especially warm memories of ABC’s “Love Among the Ruins,” which marked the only film pairing of Oscar-winning legends Katharine Hepburn and Laurence Olivier. I was a junior in college when it originally aired and I recall an Sro crowd at the Brooks Hall TV lounge at Allegheny College in Meadville (Sharon Stone’s hometown) Pa to watch the exquisite romantic comedy.
I have especially warm memories of ABC’s “Love Among the Ruins,” which marked the only film pairing of Oscar-winning legends Katharine Hepburn and Laurence Olivier. I was a junior in college when it originally aired and I recall an Sro crowd at the Brooks Hall TV lounge at Allegheny College in Meadville (Sharon Stone’s hometown) Pa to watch the exquisite romantic comedy.
- 4/17/2020
- by Susan King
- Gold Derby
We've come a long way, babies. In the years since All in the Family introduced the first gay character in primetime TV, there's now Pose, an acclaimed FX drama featuring the most transgender series regulars ever. As we kick off Pride Month 2019, it's time to look back at how far TV has come since the days of Soap and That Certain Summer. With more content platforms than ever, like streaming platforms Netflix and Hulu, representation on screen will only increase. Take Ryan O'Connell's Netflix series Special. The new acclaimed comedy, created by and starring O'Connell, is semi-autobiographical and follows a gay man with cerebral palsy. You wouldn't see that on network TV in the 1970s and you'd be...
- 6/3/2019
- E! Online
Once a staple with numerous and memorable Emmy-winning movies to tout, such as That Certain Summer, The Autobiography Of Miss Jane Pittman and other landmark films, the Outstanding Television Movie category — which now stands on its own apart from Mini/Limited Series —seems awfully hard to fill. I mean, has anyone actually heard of Agatha Christie's Poirot: Curtain, Poirot's Last Case? Or even the network it ran on, Acorn TV? If it weren't for HBO, this would be a very…...
- 8/18/2015
- Deadline TV
Queer As Folk, Season 1, Episode 1 “Pilot”
Directed by Charles McDougall
Written by Russell T. Davies
Original Air Date: 23 February 1999
That Certain Summer, a made for TV movie, airs as the ABC Movie of the Week. It is the first TV movie to deal with the subject of homosexuality cordially. In 1975, ABC debuts Hot l Baltimore, a short lived Norman Lear series, which features the first gay couple on TV. In 1991, the first kiss between a homosexual couple airs on network TV during an episode of L.A. Law. In 1989 an episode of the Us drama thirtysomething featured the first gay male couple to be shown in bed together. The brief clip is considered a TV landmark, and of course proved extremely controversial at the time.
Ten years later, Russell T. Davies (who would go on to helm the current BBC revival of Doctor Who, as well as creating the spinoff Torchwood...
Directed by Charles McDougall
Written by Russell T. Davies
Original Air Date: 23 February 1999
That Certain Summer, a made for TV movie, airs as the ABC Movie of the Week. It is the first TV movie to deal with the subject of homosexuality cordially. In 1975, ABC debuts Hot l Baltimore, a short lived Norman Lear series, which features the first gay couple on TV. In 1991, the first kiss between a homosexual couple airs on network TV during an episode of L.A. Law. In 1989 an episode of the Us drama thirtysomething featured the first gay male couple to be shown in bed together. The brief clip is considered a TV landmark, and of course proved extremely controversial at the time.
Ten years later, Russell T. Davies (who would go on to helm the current BBC revival of Doctor Who, as well as creating the spinoff Torchwood...
- 4/15/2014
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
From 1972’s Golden Globe-winning telefilm That Certain Summer to current hits Glee, Orange Is the New Black, Scandal and recently departed The New Normal, Lgbt images on television have evolved dramatically. That much is a given. But as a panel Monday night at the TV Academy demonstrated, behind the kaleidoscope of change is the work of showrunners, talent, executives and advocates who have moved the business so far -- and yet, see further progress still necessary. Dan Bucatinsky -- who won an Emmy for playing openly gay White House reporter James Novak on Scandal -- praised the ABC drama's showrunner, Shonda Rhimes, for
read more...
read more...
- 10/30/2013
- by Jonathan Handel
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The Wasteland:
Television is a gold goose that lays scrambled eggs;
and it is futile and probably fatal to beat it for not laying caviar.
Lee Loevinger
When people argue over the quality of television programming, both sides — it’s addictive crap v. underappreciated populist art — seem to forget one of the essentials about commercial TV. By definition, it is not a public service. It is not commercial TV’s job to enlighten, inform, educate, elevate, inspire, or offer insight. Frankly, it’s not even commercial TV’s job to entertain. Bottom line: its purpose is simply to deliver as many sets of eyes to advertisers as possible. As it happens, it tends to do this by offering various forms of entertainment, and occasionally by offering content that does enlighten, inform, etc., but a cynic would make the point that if TV could do the same job televising fish aimlessly swimming around an aquarium,...
Television is a gold goose that lays scrambled eggs;
and it is futile and probably fatal to beat it for not laying caviar.
Lee Loevinger
When people argue over the quality of television programming, both sides — it’s addictive crap v. underappreciated populist art — seem to forget one of the essentials about commercial TV. By definition, it is not a public service. It is not commercial TV’s job to enlighten, inform, educate, elevate, inspire, or offer insight. Frankly, it’s not even commercial TV’s job to entertain. Bottom line: its purpose is simply to deliver as many sets of eyes to advertisers as possible. As it happens, it tends to do this by offering various forms of entertainment, and occasionally by offering content that does enlighten, inform, etc., but a cynic would make the point that if TV could do the same job televising fish aimlessly swimming around an aquarium,...
- 7/22/2013
- by Ricky
- SoundOnSight
Tonight, we’ll get to see if Ryan Murphy can keep it up.
The momentum, that is. Can he and his team successfully follow up the extraordinary quality on display in last week’s stellar episode?
It was as if the sleepy storyteller roused himself and, begging our pardon, jump-started a formerly meandering, exasperating, repetitious series and decided that an Emmy or two (and fans’ everlasting love and respect) might just make his day.
Surely, the artistry and poetry on display in Glee, "The First Time" owed much to the lovely melodies and lyrics generously excerpted from West Side Story.
Just as certainly, the charming and thoughtful script, knowing and able performances, inspired cinematography and deft editing contributed to making the episode one that ranks with, or even above, the magical first 13 episodes of the entire series.
Is it enough to declare the episode’s awesomeness by pointing out that,...
The momentum, that is. Can he and his team successfully follow up the extraordinary quality on display in last week’s stellar episode?
It was as if the sleepy storyteller roused himself and, begging our pardon, jump-started a formerly meandering, exasperating, repetitious series and decided that an Emmy or two (and fans’ everlasting love and respect) might just make his day.
Surely, the artistry and poetry on display in Glee, "The First Time" owed much to the lovely melodies and lyrics generously excerpted from West Side Story.
Just as certainly, the charming and thoughtful script, knowing and able performances, inspired cinematography and deft editing contributed to making the episode one that ranks with, or even above, the magical first 13 episodes of the entire series.
Is it enough to declare the episode’s awesomeness by pointing out that,...
- 11/15/2011
- by Art Reker
- The Backlot
Which Came First — The Chicken Or The Gay Dad?
Last week Out magazine published the results of their Love and Sex Survey and one of the most notable results was the very large generation gap between gay men on the subjects of gay marriage and having children.
While only 51% of those aged 36 to 45 want to get married, 80% of those 18 to 25 want to do so. The gap is even bigger when it comes to having children. While a whopping 70% of those under the age of 25 want little bundles of joy, only 31% of those over 25 are interested in changing diapers. Even though this is Out's first time doing this survey, I'd wager that even ten years ago, the gap wouldn't have been nearly so large.
Coincidentally — or not — this week saw the debut of USA's Fairly Legal, yet another show which includes an out gay man who is a dad. This comes...
Last week Out magazine published the results of their Love and Sex Survey and one of the most notable results was the very large generation gap between gay men on the subjects of gay marriage and having children.
While only 51% of those aged 36 to 45 want to get married, 80% of those 18 to 25 want to do so. The gap is even bigger when it comes to having children. While a whopping 70% of those under the age of 25 want little bundles of joy, only 31% of those over 25 are interested in changing diapers. Even though this is Out's first time doing this survey, I'd wager that even ten years ago, the gap wouldn't have been nearly so large.
Coincidentally — or not — this week saw the debut of USA's Fairly Legal, yet another show which includes an out gay man who is a dad. This comes...
- 1/21/2011
- by Michael Jensen
- The Backlot
Emmy Award-winning television and film director Lamont Johnson has died after suffering heart failure. He was 88.
Johnson passed away at his home in Monterey, California on Sunday.
He won critical acclaim for his controversial U.S. television works, including 1970 series My Sweet Charlie, which explored interracial relationships, 1972's That Certain Summer, which took a look at homosexuality, and 1981 series Crisis at Central High, about America's civil rights movement.
He also directed episodes of Have Gun - Will Travel, Peter Gunn, The Twilight Zone, Naked City and The Defenders, in addition to helming films including 1973's The Last American Hero, starring Jeff Bridges.
Johnson, who received 11 Emmy nominations during his 40-plus years directing, won in 1986 for his work on Wallenberg: A Hero's Story, a miniseries about Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg.
In 1989 he won another Emmy for Gore Vidal's Civil War drama Lincoln, starring Sam Waterston.
Johnson is survived by a son and daughter, three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
Johnson passed away at his home in Monterey, California on Sunday.
He won critical acclaim for his controversial U.S. television works, including 1970 series My Sweet Charlie, which explored interracial relationships, 1972's That Certain Summer, which took a look at homosexuality, and 1981 series Crisis at Central High, about America's civil rights movement.
He also directed episodes of Have Gun - Will Travel, Peter Gunn, The Twilight Zone, Naked City and The Defenders, in addition to helming films including 1973's The Last American Hero, starring Jeff Bridges.
Johnson, who received 11 Emmy nominations during his 40-plus years directing, won in 1986 for his work on Wallenberg: A Hero's Story, a miniseries about Swedish diplomat Raoul Wallenberg.
In 1989 he won another Emmy for Gore Vidal's Civil War drama Lincoln, starring Sam Waterston.
Johnson is survived by a son and daughter, three grandchildren and five great-grandchildren.
- 10/27/2010
- WENN
"Lamont Johnson, an Emmy-winning director who was honored for his work on the TV programs Gore Vidal's Lincoln and Wallenberg: A Hero's Story during a wide-ranging career in television, film and theater, died of congestive heart failure at his Monterey home Sunday," reports Claire Noland for the Los Angeles Times. "Johnson, known for his sensitive treatment of controversial subjects in made-for-tv movies, dealt with interracial romance in My Sweet Charlie (1970), homosexuality in That Certain Summer (1972), blacklisting in Fear on Trial (1975) and the civil rights movement in Crisis at Central High (1981). 'I find a great many things that never make it to the big screen because they're controversial wind up on television, and done with a considerable amount of daring,' Johnson told the Miami Herald in 1992. 'That seems surprising in a medium that's supposed to be timid or anxious.'"...
- 10/26/2010
- MUBI
Forget adoption. Now all the gay couples on television are looking for surrogates.
Okay, not really. But with the one-two punch of Bob and Lee exploring surrogacy on Desperate Housewives and Kevin and Scotty doing the same thing on Brothers & Sisters, it can start to feel that way, at least on Sunday nights on ABC.
We’ve written before about the recent “gay-by” boom – the trend of fictional gay characters becoming parents.
What’s interesting lately are the increasingly varied ways these characters are becoming dads – and the ways in which they’re actually reflecting real life.
"When my husband and I started talking about having kids, even seven years ago, people said we were crazy," says Thomas Marino, who writes about his experience having children via surrogacy with his husband, sister, and donated eggs in his book Tomorrow May Be Too Late.
Being gay used to be "all about culture,...
Okay, not really. But with the one-two punch of Bob and Lee exploring surrogacy on Desperate Housewives and Kevin and Scotty doing the same thing on Brothers & Sisters, it can start to feel that way, at least on Sunday nights on ABC.
We’ve written before about the recent “gay-by” boom – the trend of fictional gay characters becoming parents.
What’s interesting lately are the increasingly varied ways these characters are becoming dads – and the ways in which they’re actually reflecting real life.
"When my husband and I started talking about having kids, even seven years ago, people said we were crazy," says Thomas Marino, who writes about his experience having children via surrogacy with his husband, sister, and donated eggs in his book Tomorrow May Be Too Late.
Being gay used to be "all about culture,...
- 5/11/2010
- by Brent Hartinger
- The Backlot
I’ll bounce off Sasha’s angle once more to feature a second Variety tribute from one actor to another: I had the privilege of playing Hal Holbrook’s gay...
- 11/30/2009
- by Ryan Adams
- AwardsDaily.com
The only big film festival in my own backyard is back and it runs from November 12th through the 22nd. While it caters more to heavy run fest material and arthouse film, they do have some of the more interesting films playing this year:
Ryan Ward's excellent Son of the Sunshine which is one of my favorite films of the year. (review)
The weird, lengthy comedy The Revenant (review)
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
and much more. Program after the break!
In Competition
Children of Invention
Two first-generation Chinese kids in suburban Boston find themselves on their own after their desperate mother is unwittingly involved in a pyramid scheme and arrested. Older brother Raymond takes a page from her marketing seminars to start creating a life for himself and his sister - casting a strange, pint-sized reflection on the American Dream.
Footprints...
Ryan Ward's excellent Son of the Sunshine which is one of my favorite films of the year. (review)
The weird, lengthy comedy The Revenant (review)
Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
The Imaginarium of Dr. Parnassus
and much more. Program after the break!
In Competition
Children of Invention
Two first-generation Chinese kids in suburban Boston find themselves on their own after their desperate mother is unwittingly involved in a pyramid scheme and arrested. Older brother Raymond takes a page from her marketing seminars to start creating a life for himself and his sister - casting a strange, pint-sized reflection on the American Dream.
Footprints...
- 10/26/2009
- QuietEarth.us
Last weekend's Equality March in Washington D.C. got me to thinking about how far we have — and haven't — come in the fight for gay equality. But since AfterElton.com focuses on pop culture, I'm going to look at things through that lens and leave the political analysis for Pam's House Blend, Americablog, Bilerico and the other assorted gay political websites that cover the topic.
One of the very first times American television addressed the subject of gay men (bisexuality was almost never addressed) was way back in 1954 when the L.A. based tabloid talk show Confidential File presented "Homosexuals and the Problems They Present." Hmm, I'm guessing it wasn't terribly flattering unless it was about how boring straight people looked in comparison to us 'mos.
San Francisco's public TV station did the first ever documentary, The Rejected in 1961 and it wasn't until 1967 that a television show first featured a gay storyline.
One of the very first times American television addressed the subject of gay men (bisexuality was almost never addressed) was way back in 1954 when the L.A. based tabloid talk show Confidential File presented "Homosexuals and the Problems They Present." Hmm, I'm guessing it wasn't terribly flattering unless it was about how boring straight people looked in comparison to us 'mos.
San Francisco's public TV station did the first ever documentary, The Rejected in 1961 and it wasn't until 1967 that a television show first featured a gay storyline.
- 10/16/2009
- by michael
- The Backlot
Have a question about gay male entertainment? Ask the Monkey!
Q: I'm a huge fan of The Biggest Loser and I'd heard somewhere that Bob is gay. True? -- Daniel, Auckland, Nz
A: Rumors have swirled around Harper, who is the oldest of The Biggest Loser’s three personal trainers, for years. Harper declined to comment, but he’s never come out, nor does he list a sexual orientation on his MySpace profile.
Biggest Loser personal trainer Bob Harper
Still, two of The Biggest Loser 6 contestants recently seemed to out him while appearing on a radio show:
According to Realityblurred.com:
Phillip and Amy Parham called in to the Monsters in the Morning show on Real Radio 104.1 two weeks ago (listen on iTunes, around 2:45:00), and when asked “Is Bob married?” there was a pause, and Amy said, “no,” and Phil said, “Uh, no.” He then added, “Bob likes his clothes and all that.
Q: I'm a huge fan of The Biggest Loser and I'd heard somewhere that Bob is gay. True? -- Daniel, Auckland, Nz
A: Rumors have swirled around Harper, who is the oldest of The Biggest Loser’s three personal trainers, for years. Harper declined to comment, but he’s never come out, nor does he list a sexual orientation on his MySpace profile.
Biggest Loser personal trainer Bob Harper
Still, two of The Biggest Loser 6 contestants recently seemed to out him while appearing on a radio show:
According to Realityblurred.com:
Phillip and Amy Parham called in to the Monsters in the Morning show on Real Radio 104.1 two weeks ago (listen on iTunes, around 2:45:00), and when asked “Is Bob married?” there was a pause, and Amy said, “no,” and Phil said, “Uh, no.” He then added, “Bob likes his clothes and all that.
- 2/12/2009
- by dennis
- The Backlot
I
Back In The Spotlight: Marilyn Mason Returns To The Screen With Model Rules
Interview by Tom Lisanti
Actress Marlyn Mason, best remembered as Elvis’ leading lady in The Trouble with Girls (1969) and James Franciscus’ trusty assistant/companion on TV’s Longstreet (1971-72), has come out of a self-imposed 10-year retirement to star in Model Rules (2008) a short film directed by Ray Robison that she also produced and wrote on location in Medford, Oregon where she has been residing these past few years. In it she plays an aging artist's model who envisages being with one of the men sketching her.
The movie came from an idea Marlyn had after researching what it took to become a real life artist’s model back in 2004. She shelved the proposal but when a friend suggested she enter a Fiction Writing contest, a former writing partner, comedian Vince Valenzuela, reminded her about becoming...
Back In The Spotlight: Marilyn Mason Returns To The Screen With Model Rules
Interview by Tom Lisanti
Actress Marlyn Mason, best remembered as Elvis’ leading lady in The Trouble with Girls (1969) and James Franciscus’ trusty assistant/companion on TV’s Longstreet (1971-72), has come out of a self-imposed 10-year retirement to star in Model Rules (2008) a short film directed by Ray Robison that she also produced and wrote on location in Medford, Oregon where she has been residing these past few years. In it she plays an aging artist's model who envisages being with one of the men sketching her.
The movie came from an idea Marlyn had after researching what it took to become a real life artist’s model back in 2004. She shelved the proposal but when a friend suggested she enter a Fiction Writing contest, a former writing partner, comedian Vince Valenzuela, reminded her about becoming...
- 7/31/2008
- by nospam@example.com (Cinema Retro)
- Cinemaretro.com
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